How to Stay Consistent With Fitness When Life Gets Hard (My Story)

Most nurses’ fitness journeys die in the first month. Work gets busy, someone needs you, or maybe an injury hits. Before long, you quit.

This episode shows you how to break that loop for good.

In this episode of The Fit Nurse Diaries, Courtney Brooks shares 12 years of real lessons on weight loss, mindset, and building a healthy lifestyle that lasts.

You’ll hear how Courtney went from failing classes to going pro on a bikini stage.

How she kept training after her mom passed.

And how she built the Fit Nurse movement out of grief and used the gym to heal.

She also breaks down why cutting and bulking keeps you stuck, why the ‘boring basics’ beat every fancy plan, and why a fresh identity is the secret key to fat loss, body confidence, and lasting change.

Tune in to hear about:

🩷The one defining moment that ended Courtney's old life for good
🩷How to keep training when life hits hard, grief, work, family, or injury
🩷Why slow results are not actually failure, instead they’re a signal that you’re on track
🩷The one habit that beats every cutting and bulking plan
🩷How to use the gym to heal, not just to lose weight
🩷The mindset shift that took Courtney from losing on stage to going pro
🩷The four basic habits that build a fit nurse lifestyle for life

Key Moments:

00:00:00 Intro
00:03:30 Hot chocolate dinners
00:05:00 Sick of myself moment
00:06:40 Laying the bricks daily
00:08:00 Identity shift required
00:09:20 First competition heartbreak
00:11:30 Going pro
00:12:40 Losing mom
00:15:00 Meeting my mindset coach
00:17:20 The birth of Fit Nurse
00:18:40 Skip the fancy stuff
00:20:00 Same path equals same outcome

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🩷Connect With Me🩷

https://www.instagram.com/thefitnursemovement/
https://www.instagram.com/courtneymarybb/

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🩷About The Fit Nurse Movement🩷

The Fit Nurse Diaries Podcast is brought to you by The Fit Nurse Movement - the only fitness and weight loss coaching program made specifically for nurses, by a nurse. It’s designed to help you feel strong, sexy, and energised even on your busiest shift weeks.

-

🩷Join the Fit Nurse Movement today🩷


https://thefitnursemovement.com/bc-joinnow891392 

-

🩷Connect With Me🩷

https://www.instagram.com/thefitnursemovement/
https://www.instagram.com/courtneymarybb/

-

🩷About The Fit Nurse Movement🩷

The Fit Nurse Diaries Podcast is brought to you by The Fit Nurse Movement - the only fitness and weight loss coaching program made specifically for nurses, by a nurse. It’s designed to help you feel strong, sexy, and energised even on your busiest shift weeks.

-

🩷Join the Fit Nurse Movement today🩷


https://thefitnursemovement.com/bc-joinnow891392

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I am so excited to bring you into a little insight into my journey. I want to talk about the ins and outs of the flow of living this lifestyle. What ended up happening for me is I started in a place where I was having hot chocolate for dinner and I was feeling really low self-esteem, not confident with myself at all. And that was really tough because obviously my mom passing, and that made me want to crumble. That made me want to hide away, that made me want to just give up on so much around me. I was doing nursing at the time as well. And I just want to give up on everything. I cannot live like this any longer. And when you have those moments of looking at your own self and being like, I am sick, like I want like a new life, like that is hard to recognize that, but also to change. And that was when I was like, okay, like you have to lay down the bricks every single day to create the wall. And I am so excited to bring you into a little insight into my journey. So, really, with this episode, like I want to talk about the ins and outs of the flow of living this lifestyle. Okay, living this lifestyle in health and fitness and how there's so many obstacles in the way, but it's all about, you know, the story that we tell ourselves and our ways of overcoming it. And I see like so many women in this ecosystem of like nursing or just fitness in general, like one little thing deteres them from their journey. Like, I bet like there's a lot of you right now that are listening to this, they're like, oh yeah, like I've done programs before, or I've gone on a fitness journey, I'm super excited, and the hype of it all, you're motivated and you're just like, okay, like let's go. And then all of a sudden, like a month in, like something happens. Like you end up getting an injury, or you end up having someone in your family get hurt or needs you, or work got overwhelming, and you're just like, I have to give all my energy, my time to that, or something came up in your friend group, or you know, in your family and or your relationship. Like there's so many things. The important piece is I want you to know that you can be human in your health and fitness journey, in your lifestyle of building yourself, building your best version. Like you're never gonna have a perfect day. Like, I think that's so important to realize is that it's not about perfection over time. Like people think that everyone lives this like perfect life and they just like struggle and they're like, I can never actually, you know, be happy and live a healthy life, and that like things need to be so separate. Like, okay, I only can be on my fitness journey when things are going really well. Like, no, like we should be normalizing the fact that you should not feel like it's going well all the time. And I just want to like share with you like my journey through the highs and lows so you can see that, like, yeah, this is a human experience, but it's how we choose to navigate that. So I'm gonna take you through my story and the little things, like almost the little milestones that I went through that could have held me back, but we continued, we moved through them. And here we are today living this health and fitness lifestyle for the past like 12 years. I'm like, I have to count backwards and I'm like, how long has it actually been? Yeah, it's been about 12 years, going on to 13 years now. And you know, in 13 years, a lot of shit is gonna happen. Like, no doubt only. So let's start from the beginning. Okay. So I think what ended up happening for me is I started in a place where I was having hot chocolate for dinner, and I was feeling really low self-esteem, not confident with myself at all. And I felt like I was just kind of flowing through life. I was really like not happy in my life. I had a really negative spiraling mindset, and I wasn't growth-oriented because I didn't know how to be. And I always felt like I really wasn't enough in the world. And when you feel like that, you often neglect yourself. So I wasn't the person that was like every day, like doing my hair, doing my makeup, like feeling really good with myself. Actually, I was the person that was sleeping in till like 2 p.m. most days in the summer because I had nothing to do. And I was just like, oh, just like, you know, kind of neglect uh life and didn't have excitement for it as well. And I was kind of failing classes as well. And I just remember there was a moment where I looked around my room and there were dishes underneath my pillow, and there was Tupperware containers under my bed, and there was negative, spiraling mindset going on all the time for me. And I just got really sick of myself. Like, let's be real, like just so sick of myself. And I was like, I cannot live like this any longer. And when you have those moments of looking at your own self and being like, I am sick, like I want like a new life. Like that is hard to recognize that, but also to change, because especially if you don't know what change is or what or how to be better, it's really tough. But I decided in that moment, I can't live like this, I can't keep on this spiral, I can't be this negative person. And I need to choose the better. And that was such a pivotal moment for me because I was like, how do you be better? How do you change your life? How do you actually live this health and fitness lifestyle when you're starting from ground zero? And what I realized is that I had to actually go all in. So it wasn't like a, oh, I'm one foot in, one foot out kind of deal. It was like, no, you have to actually go all in on yourself. So what that meant is I told myself that since I'm failing classes, I'm gonna study every single day. I'm gonna check that off. It doesn't matter how exhausted I am, I'm gonna do it. I'm going to go to the gym. I'm gonna learn. I'm gonna ask someone that goes to the gym, take me with you. So that's what I did. I ended up asking someone, like a couple of the guys that I worked with from the reserve and my sister as well. We ended up like going into the gym late at night after our workday. Maybe we shouldn't have been doing that. So just saying, shout out to you guys for taking me into the gym, unlocking the door and teaching me the ways. And I'm so thankful for those people that did that for me because of course they were working out as well, but they didn't have to do that. But it was like the only time I could really work out because I was in school all day. And then I had to work after school. I started working at a really young age, and um, you know, that was the only time that I actually could. So we did it. We worked out, I came home, I slept, I made some lunches for the next day, and I started eating healthier. I started learning about nutrition, and I was absolutely obsessed. I was like going to nutrition classes, and I was like, wow, this is like the most fascinating thing. And I still believe that health and fitness is the most absolutely fascinating thing. And that was when I was like, okay, like you have to lay down the bricks every single day to create the wall. Like things have to compound. And because I I accepted that this is gonna be a long-term journey, I didn't accept that it was gonna be like results really quick. I just decided that, hey, like allow this to add up to something big. So the 60 average in school, because I was showing up every day studying, doing my homework, applying myself, telling myself, like literally pay attention to everything you hear in classes, that went from a 60 to a 90. Okay, that was possible because I had a goal, because I was like, I'm gonna get into nursing. I gave it no other option. I knew I had a lot of potential and I was like, let's just go all in. Then all of a sudden, someone who was eating hot chocolate from dinner, I'm eating salads, I'm picking good options, I'm learning. Someone who originally would think of the negative every single time I hear something, I went to the positives. I was like, I can't spiral, I can't keep going down this negative avenue. So when you decide to change, you actually have to commit. You have to tell yourself you have to become a new identity. And that's where identity came into this in that I was like the version of me who was had Tupperware containers under her bed and dishes and felt like shiz, she can't be the same vessel and the same person than the version of me that actually achieves big things, gets her goals, gets into nursing, feels confident in her body and everything. So that pivotal moment of a decision to be different caused a completely different outcome. And that's where people get it wrong. They're just like, oh, I'll just like dabble in this. Oh, I'll just maybe possibly go in. But it's like, nah, man, like you gotta go all in on your hopes and dreams. You have to literally give it no other option but to become that person that you want to be. But as we know, life hits. We're human, we're gonna have different experiences on that journey. So, yes, I had the goals of getting to nursing. Yes, I eventually had the goals of doing bikini competitions and going pro. And yes, I had the goals of developing the fit nurse movement. But guess what? On the avenue to that over the past like 12 to 13 years, it wasn't always easy. And I really want to normalize that for you gals. It's not going to be easy every single day. Like the moments for me that hit the hardest was number one, I would say when I ended up doing a bikini competition, and I learned that hey, if you go all in every single day, you're gonna be able to have this amazing body. And because you work really hard, it's gonna add to an outcome. Right? So then I went to the bikini competition, got on stage, ended up not even placing the first time that I went. And I was like, but I worked so hard and I manifested this and I literally dreamed of it, and I literally went all in every single day. Like, how come that didn't lead to the outcome? And then I realized that that's not how life works. It's not just you put in the work and then you get the outcome right away. Like, you actually have to stick by it, you have to stick by the mission even when there's roadblocks. So that was a massive roadblock for me. And I remember like I wanted it so badly. I dreamed of it, like I wanted to go pro. I was like, I know what it's gonna feel like, it's gonna be this huge accomplishment. I had so many people backing me too on Instagram. Everyone was following the journey as well. So everyone was like so all in, and it was the most disappointing thing when you find out that you don't even place and you just built so much like excitement and so much like hope and dreams towards what you wanted. And everyone, like, of course, is like rooting for you. So that was even more pressure. And that was the number one lesson that I realized and my first milestone that like you working really hard towards something doesn't always equal the outcome right away. So, how we can apply that to our health and fitness journey is like everyone thinks with the scale, you're if you work really hard all week, it's gonna go down, or you work how hard all month and it's gonna go down. It's like, no, like it comes exactly when it should, but it's not always going to be the path that you thought. Okay, let that sink in. It's not always going to be the path that you thought, but the outcome will come if you keep on trying. So, what did I do? I got back on that horse. I told myself I'm gonna be better in this way, I'm gonna take the feedback, even though I was literally crying and I was like broken down and feeling low self-esteem because I was like, I'm not good enough, like compared to these other girls and all the things. I was like, no, like, let's get back on that horse. So, what did I do? Got back on the horse, got a better bikini, better body, better mindset, better attitude going into it. And my next show, I ended up going pro. Okay. And in that moment, it's so exhilarating. It was like, man, like, imagine if I gave up after the one time that I didn't get what I wanted. And it's delayed gratification, gals. Like, it's like nothing in life is worth having if it's just something that you worked for for one month, two months, three months. Like, you have to delay the gratification to really, really big goals so that you can actually feel the relief of like, hey, I worked really hard towards something. And I can look back at the end of my life and be like, I'm really proud of the way I showed up, even when the outcome wasn't there right away. That taught me a lot. And I was really proud of myself for going pro. You know, so that was my first lesson in health and fitness is that it's not gonna happen right away, but trust the journey, and the journey will always come if it was meant for you, but also if you keep on persisting and working really hard towards something. So that was beautiful. Now, my next lesson was that there is gonna be roadblocks that are not just you not getting the outcome right away, there's gonna be roadblocks when something really tough happens in your life. So what happened for me is my on my journey and I was doing competitions, I was really excited to do another competition because I was doing back-to-back ones once I went pro. And I get this call from my sister, and she's like, Court, mom has passed, and that was really tough because obviously my mom passing, and that made me want to crumble, that made me want to hide away, that made me want to just give up on so much around me. You know, I was doing nursing at the time as well, and I just wanted to give up on everything. I wanted to literally go into a ditch and go into like this hole and just disappear. Like automatically, your body, when you go through really hard times, you want to overeat. All I wanted to do is eat like crappy food. Okay, let's be real. All I wanted to do is not do the workout. I wanted to lay there in my bed, and I wanted to not move. I wanted to self-isolate. I didn't want to be around people. I wanted to almost create this horrible pity party where I just was like negatively spiraling. I was looking at myself in the mirror and I was like, I can't compete. Like, you don't look good enough. You're too petite, you're too this, like everything. Like every single day, it was just a huge spiral and a huge negative fest. So, yes, I did the work, okay, leading up to that moment. I did so much work on myself, so much work on my mindset, so much work on being a better person, so much work on living this lifestyle. But in that moment, I wanted to drop everything and give up. And it's gonna feel like that sometimes when you go through really freaking hard things. But what did I do? Is between all the tears, all the hard moments, all the one ones that I wanted to give up, where I wanted to just go to food, I was like, I'm gonna work out. And I went to my PT sessions and I literally had videos of it, and I was crying. I was crying during the workouts because I was literally letting out all the negativity and all the thoughts of like I was like, hey, if I like it was actually mess. Like I was like, if I work really hard during this workout and like I push for that last rep even during the pain, like maybe I can actually save my mom. You know, like those were the thoughts that were going through my head. Like I used it as a something that was a lot of pain, but used a good outlet to be able to get it out. So instead of just falling into the ditch, I was like, I need to find something positive to grasp onto. And that's when I end up listening to like Joe Desponenza, he's amazing. And I listened to all his YouTube videos, and I was trying to find new thought patterns. And I was like trying to find new avenues that are positive again. And that's when I was like, I need a mindset coach. And I hopped on and started working with a mindset coach during that time as well, and that changed my whole life. Like, it's so crazy. Because like, we wouldn't be in this moment right now if like that didn't happen, if my mom didn't pass. Like, seriously, I wouldn't have chased my dreams, I wouldn't have been able to get to where I am. And in that moment, you don't realize that. You don't realize like the the things you go through there really hard are actually there to be able to help you actually become the person that you are today. And I think we can always see it like that, or we can see it another way. But I chose this way. So when I started working with my mindside coach, he was like, Corey, like, what do you want in your life? And I was actually given permission to decide what I wanted. And what I wanted is I wanted to have a fitness business, I wanted to help women, I wanted to be able to travel to see my family. I wanted to actually leave nursing, funny enough. And in that moment I was so far off from even like being there. But I started using those outlets as something really, really positive that started me moving forward. So that was a moment that I realized that hard times aren't meant to break you. They're meant to allow you to see yourself as are you gonna be proud of the woman you showed up with, showed up as even when you go through hard shit, because that was probably the hardest thing I'll ever go through in my life. But it's how you choose how you show up. So I chose the gym. Yes, I ovate and some food, so I'll be real about that. But I still was like, hey, I'm gonna get back to it literally like a few days later. And I was over trying to overdo the oats more than anything, trying to pick some good options, the veggie straws, you know, something that wasn't gonna overdo it for me. And you know, you can choose that, gals. Like you seriously can. And that was a really big lesson for me. So, how you can apply that in your own life is I see so many women, especially in my ecosystem in this program that we have go through really hard times, go through injury, surgery, deaths in the family, and everyone responds to those things so differently. And I respect that a hundred percent. I think that when you can go through a hard time and you can choose the positive outlet, you can do the cardio, you can move your body, you can choose really good foods, you can choose sunlight and a conversation with a friend and regulating yourself, mindset, coaching, psychology, all these things that are gonna actually move you into a positive version of you, there can bloom something so beautiful on the other side. And from that moment, that's where I created the fitness movement. You know, I used that outlet and that energy towards something that was actually gonna help serve more people. I discovered more about myself and became an even better version of myself from that moment and all my experiences that I had with my mom and my childhood, I was able to use that to help other women. So those experiences that we go through, they can make you, they can break you, or you can decide to grow from them and develop something so amazing in your life. So those were a couple milestones that were really big on my journey that helped me realize that you don't need to fall down. Okay. Now, some less emotional milestones I went through is actually the cutting and bulking phases and everything like that, because everyone talks about that, and they're like, oh, I'm gonna like bulk up, I'm gonna eat more cows, and then I'm gonna cut, and I'm gonna do all these things, and there's like restriction, and then there's like uncertainty with like how much carbs and like pulling back and all adding in all these things. I think that the lessons that I learned from that and trying so many different programs during that time is that you just need to do like one thing, and you just gotta eat healthier, you gotta drink your water, you gotta do your steps, you gotta work out. And if you do that over a long period of time consistently, you will create a lifestyle. It's not a matter of like, should I be like doing all these crazy different things to be able to get towards the goals, cutting back carbs, adding in this, adding in that? No, man. Like, it's literally just do the basics for long enough to be able to see the results long term. And that's What I've stuck to ever since I've just had coaches and everything, I've learned a lot from them. But the basics are what actually win long term. Okay. It's actually what creates this lifestyle. So those were my three major pillars as to what created this lifestyle and recognizing that you're gonna go through so many things, gals. Like you seriously will. You'll go through so many moments of doubt, so many moments of hardship, so many moments of like, should I be doing this? Should I be doing that? Like questioning yourself, feeling uncertain about your plan and everything. But you will always get to the outcome if you never give up on yourself. So that's the important lesson that I hope that you really take from this is that you can be different. You can choose a different outcome if you decide that you want to be different. And there's always this perfect analogy of that is that when you keep on going down the same path that you've always been, you repeatedly will get the same outcome. So you'll notice this in your life, you'll notice it in relationships, in your fitness journey, in your friendships, in your mindset. You keep on thinking the same every single day. How could you ever think any different? How could you ever get a different outcome? If you keep on dating the same people and you keep on doing the same things in relationships, you get the same outcome. Okay. You you keep on repeatedly get the same, same outcome with relationships in different people. You keep on doing the same thing with your fitness journey and not changing the plan, you get the same outcome. So you literally have to become a new version and accept that there's not one foot in, one foot out. Like you have to be a different version in order to get a different outcome. Because you can see now that the mindset coaching, the psychology is going to change your thought patterns, which is going to change your outcome, which is going to change your whole world in front of you. Then the same thing with relationship. If you're creating different standards, you're thinking differently, you're thinking more healed, you are trying to do it right, you're going to get a different relationship. And then the same thing with your just lifestyle with fitness. If you're doing the same PDF plan over and over and over again, we can't expect outcomes. But if we change it up, if we actually have a program that actually is going to work for us, and that's forever changing as well, then you're going to get different outcomes. Okay. So the moral of this is that you are going to go through a hell of a journey. Okay. But it's important to accept it. Like, take it all in. Don't expect your journey to be perfect. Don't expect you to have the abs right away, or the perfect mindset right away, or that you're never going to go through hard things. Like you absolutely will. And learn from me. Like I went through it, but I've I've created my 2.0 and I'm on to the 3.0 because I always want to be better. I'm not perfect either. But you keep going and you create new outcomes for yourself, new thought patterns, new lifestyles. And that's how you win, gals. So thank you so much for listening to this episode. And I hope that it gives you the hope that, you know, if I can go through hard things, like so can you. And we can absolutely do that together in the journey. So that being said, don't forget to hit the subscribe button to learn more about how to become fit nurse, live this lifestyle, lose weight, and feel confident within yourself and just enjoy the journey. That's the main things that I want you to be able to take from this is that life is a journey, but it should be so freaking fun, you know, being able to figure out yourself. Um, love yourself and go on this really amazing journey of life. So thank you so much, and I will see you next time. You got this.